Philip Kotler received his Master's Degree at the University of Chicago and his PhD at MIT, both in economics. He did post doctoral work in mathematics at Harvard University and in behavioral science at the University of Chicago.

In 2008, the Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems added an International Track to its oldest program. The idea was to broaden the program to include foreign policy and a more global perspective.

Steven J. Skinner is the Rosenthal Professor and Director of the School of Management in the College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing for 16 years. He was previously on the faculty at Illinois State University, and was formerly a research administrator for State Farm Insurance Companies. He has also consulted with a variety of large and small organizations.

Dr. Naresh K. Malhotra is Senior Fellow, Georgia Tech CIBER and Regents' Professor Emeritus, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. He is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America continuously since 51st Edition 1997, and in Who’s Who in the World since 2000.In 2010, he was selected as a Marketing Lege nd and his refereed journal articles were published in nine volumes by Sage with tributes by other leading scholars in the field.He was selected to receive the Hind Rattan Award in 2012.

David W.Cravens is Emeritus Professor of Marketing in teh M.J.Neeley School of Business at Taxas Christian University.He previously held the Eunice and James L.West Chair of American Enterprise Studies and was Professor of Marketing.

28 December, 2017

Make no mistake; in the modern business world, a huge portion of your marketing is going to be digital.

Consumers are flocking online to find the best deals while businesses continue to migrate over in order to meet their demands. You need to be able to reach those consumers if you have any hope of growing your business.

The problem is that this ever-changing landscape can get quite overwhelming. You already have a lot on your plate just running your business, so when you add in digital marketing, it can really wear on us.

Don’t panic! Here are some steps that you can take to make this much easier.

Develop Your Buyer Profile

This is the first step to creating any marketing strategy, including digital. You have to know who you are marketing to. The best strategies are built around a detailed buyer profile.

This profile will represent your ideal customer. Envision your ideal customer, put yourself in his/her shoes, and then write down exactly who they are. Your buyer profile should include details such as:

•Age: Even if you feel that it’s not important, I still recommend that you envision an age range just so that you can create an image of the ideal customer in your mind. Then find trends associated with that age group.

•Location: Web analytical tools like Google Analytics is a great way to identify the location of your website traffic. In most cases, you will be targeting your current audience. Location-based SEO is extremely powerful.

•Income: First of all, never ask your followers this question directly. Based on your niche, you should be able to research the income level of people who are going to be interested. With that said, this is important when pricing your new product or service.

•Job Title: You can gauge this from your current customer base. It might not even be relevant to your business.

I also recommend that you set up some surveys and questionnaires for social media. You can also include a post that asks a question and asks for a response in the comments.

Identify Your Goals

Your marketing goals need to be tied into your business goals. So, if you have a business goal of boosting revenue by 20%, then your digital marketing goal might be to improve your online lead generation by 50%. Whatever your goal might be, just remember that it should follow the SMART formula. The SMART formula states that a goal must be:

•Specific

•Measurable

•Attainable

•Realistic

•Timely

Specific and measurable are probably the two most important parts of a goal. It must be specific. Vague goals are not going to work.

If you noticed, we used a real number in our example above. Saying “I want to improve my online lead generation by 50%.” is much better than just saying “I want to improve my online lead generation.”

Goals must also be measurable. Otherwise, you have no way of knowing whether or not you are achieving them.

Choose Your Digital Marketing Channels

Once you have defined your target audience and set SMART goals, it’s time to choose the marketing channels that you’ll use to push your business.

Let’s look at the three main categories that you will have to choose from:

•Owned Media: These are channels that your business owns. Some examples include social media profiles, blogs, images, logos, and websites. You should always start by making sure these align with your marketing goals.

•Earned Media: Earned media is exposure that you have earned. Some examples are word of mouth advertising and customer experience. One of your goals should be to earn more exposure through customer reviews and having people share content through social media.

•Paid Media: Paid media is any form of advertising that you pay for. In most campaigns, you will use your paid media to funnel prospects to your owned media.

Gather all of your marketing material and organize it into a spreadsheet so that you can easily keep track of it.

Personalize Customers’ Digital Experience

In marketing, personalization wins big so customized emails are 26% more likely to be opened. The problem is that there are a lot of ways to make this work.

Some experts make customization sound much more complicated than it really is. What’s important is that you collect the right information right away. The rest is actually quite easy.

The truth is that so many marketers miss out on the powerful benefits of personalization because they have already started collecting email addresses but did not get all of the required information. However, it’s never too late to start.

• Create a plan and get your entire team on-board with your new strategy.

Use Chatbots to Engage Your Audience

The marketing world is in a constant state of flux. Today, we are starting to see a brand new trend that has gained a lot of popularity – known as Chat bots.

As companies continue to battle for customer support and retention, we see new, innovative methods of automation being brought to life.

Here are some of the reasons why you should include Chat bots as part of your digital marketing strategy:

• Mobile Optimization: Chat bots are designed with the mobile-first approach in mind so you won’t have to worry about having to jump through hoops to have them adapted to mobile devices.

• Consistent Social Media Marketing: By integrating Chat bots across your social media platforms, you will be able to keep all of your various social media campaigns updated consistently.

• Real-Time Updates: Chat bots are still in their earlier stages in development so they are going to see constant improvement over the next several years. That means you can expect real-time analysis and quick updates.

One of the most important benefits of digital marketing is that once you have developed a campaign, you can automate a large portion of it. So if you’re not automating, then you’re going to be several steps behind the competition.

Finally, developing a strategy will put you ahead of your competition. Did you know that 46% of businesses do not have a well-defined marketing strategy?

Don’t be a statistic. Be a success story! Without a plan, you cannot expect to grow and reach the next level.

19 February, 2016

This final section of the chapter discusses situations in which the firm might actually consider ending the relationship and how that might occur,in the next chapter we discuss situations in which the customer might decide to terminate the relationship and switch providers.

The assumption that all customers are good customers is very compatible with the belief that "the customer is always right",an almost sacrosanct tenet of business.Yet any service worker can tell you that this statement is not always true,and in some cases it may be preferable for the firm and the customer to not continue their relationship.

A company cannot target its services to all customers,some segments will be more appropriate than others.It would not be beneficial to either the company or the customer for a company to establish a relationship with a customer whose needs the company cannot meet.

For Example: A school offering a lock step,daytime MBA program would not encourage full time working people to apply for its program nor would a law firm specializing in government issues establish a relationship with individuals seeking advice on trusts and estates.

In the absence of ethical or legal mandates,organizations will prefer not to have long term relationships with unprofitable customers.Some segments of customers will not be profitable for the company even if their needs can be met by the services offered.

Example: This situation are when there are not enough customers in the segment to make it profitable to serve,when the segment cannot afford to pay the cost of the service,or when the projected revenue flows from the segment would not cover the costs incurred to originate and maintain their business.

Managers have repeated the phrase "the customer is always right" so often that you would expect it to be accepted by every employee in every service organization.So why isn't it? Perhaps because it simply is not true.The customer is not always right.No matter how frequently it is said,repeating that mantra does not make it become reality,and service employees know it.

08 January, 2016

Switching barriers tend to serve as constraints that keep customers in relationships with firms because they however firms can engage in activities that encourage customers to remain in the relationship because they creating relationship bonds.

Leonard Berry & A.Parasuraman have developed a framework for understanding the types of retention strategies that focus on developing bonds with customers.

The customer is tied to the firm primarily through financial incentives lower prices for greater volume purchases or lower prices for customers who have been with the firm a long time.

Many travelers belong to several frequent flyer programs and do not hesitate to trade off among them.Although price and other financial incentives are important to customers,they are generally not difficult for competitions to imitate because the primary element of the marketing mix being manipulated is price.

The firm through more than financial incentives.Although price is still assumed to be important,strategies seek to build long term relationships through social and interpersonal as well as financial bonds.Customers are viewed as clients not nameless faces,and become individuals whose needs and wants the firm seeks to understand.

Level 3 strategies involves more than social ties and financial incentives,although there are common elements of level 1 and 2 strategies encompassed within a customization strategy and vice versa.Two commonly used terms fit within the customization bonds approach mass customization and customer intimacy.

Level 4 strategies are the most difficult to imitate,they involve structural as well as financial,social and customization bonds between the customer and the firm.Structural bonds are created by proving services to the client that are frequently designed right into the service delivery system for that client .

13 November, 2015

Relationship value of a customer is a concept or calculation that looks at customers from the point of view of their lifetime revenue and profitability contributions to a company.This type of calculation is needed when companies start thinking of building long-term relationships with their customers.

Factors That Influence Relationship Value:

The Lifetime or relationship value of a customer is influenced by the length of an average "Lifetime" the average revenues generated per relevant time period over the lifetime,sales of additional products and services over time,referrals generated by the customer over time,and costs associated with serving the customer.

Estimating Customer Lifetime Value:

If companies knew how much it really costs to lose a customer,they would be able to accurately evaluate investments designed to retain customers.One way of documenting the dollar value of loyal customers is to estimate the increased value or profits that accrue for each additional customer who remains loyal to the company rather than defecting to the competition.

Linking Customer Relationship Value to Firm Value:

The emphasis on estimating the relationship value of customers has increased substantially in the past decade.Part of this emphasis has resulted from an increased appreciation of the economic benefits that firms accrue with the retention of loyal customers.Download File : Click Here

06 November, 2015

Both parties in the customer firm relationship can benefit from customer retention.This is,it is not only in the best interest of the organization to build and maintain a loyal customer base,but customers themselves also benefit from long term associations.

Benefits for Customers:

Assuming they have a choice,customers will remain loyal to a firm when they receive greater value relative to what they expect from competing firms.Value represents a trade off for the consumer between the components.

Confidence Benefits:

Confidence benefits comprise feeling of trust or confidence in the provider along with a sense of reduced anxiety and comfort in knowing what to expect.One customer described his confidence that resulted from having developed a relationship with a service provider.

Social Benefits:

Over time,customers develop a sense of familiarity and even a social relationship with their service providers.These make it less likely that they will switch,even if they learn about a competitor that might have better quality or a lower price.This customer's description of her stylist in a quote from the research just cited illustrates the concept of social benefits.

Special Treatment Benefits:

Special treatment includes getting the benefit of the doubt,being given a special deal or price,or getting preferential treatment as exemplified by the following quotes from the research.

Benefits for Firms:

The benefits to organization of maintaining and developing a loyal customer base are numerous.In addition to the economic benefits that a firm receives from cultivating close relationships with its customers,a variety of customer behavior benefits and human resource management benefits are also often received.

Economic Benefits:

Research reveals that over the long run,relationship-oriented service firms achieve higher overall returns on their investments than do transaction oriented firms.These bottom line benefits come from a variety of sources,including increased revenues over time from the customer,reduced marketing and administrative costs,and the ability to maintain margins without reducing prices.

Customer Behavior Benefits:

The contribution that loyal customers make to a service business can go well beyond their direct financial impact on the firm.The first and maybe the most easily recognized,customer behavior benefit that a firm receives from long term customers is the free advertising provided through world of mouth communication.

Human Resource Management Benefits:

Loyal customers may also provide a firm with human resource management benefits.First,loyal customers may,because of their experience with and knowledge of the provider,be able to contribute to the co-production of the service by assisting in service delivery.often the more experienced customers can make the service employees job easier.

30 October, 2015

Scholars have suggested that marketing exchange relationships between providers and customers often have the potential to evolve from strangers to acquaintances to friends to partners.

1.Customers as Strangers:

Strangers are those customers who have not yet had any transactions with a firm and may not even be aware of the firm.At the industry level,strangers may be conceptualized as customers who have not yet entered the market,at the firm level,they may include customers of competitors.clearly the firm has no relationship with the customer at this point.Consequently,the firm's primary goal with these potential customers is to initiate communication with them in order to attract them and acquire their business.

2.Customers as Acquaintances:

Once customer awareness and trial are achieved,familiarity is established and the customer and the customer and the firm become acquaintances,creating the basis for an exchange relationship.A primary goal for the firm at this stage of the relationship is satisfying the customer.In the acquaintance stage,firms are generally concerned about providing a value proposition to customers comparable with that of competitors.For a customer,an acquaintanceship is effective as long as the customer is relatively satisfied and what is being received in the exchange is perceived as fair value.

3.Customers as Friends:

As a customer continues to make purchases from a firm and to receive value in the exchange relationship,the firm begins to acquire specific knowledge of the customer,s needs,allowing it to create an offering that directly addresses the customer's situation.The provision of a unique offering,and thus differential value,transforms the relationship from acquaintance to friendship.A primary goal for firms goal for firms at the friendship stage of the relationship is customer retention.

4.Customers as Partners:

As a customer continues to interact with a firm,the level of trust often deepens and the customer may receive more customized product offerings and interactions.The trust developed in the friendship stage is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a customer firm partnership to develop.That is the creation of trust leads to the creation of commitment and that is the condition necessary for customers to extend the time perspective of a relationship.

28 August, 2015

Relationship marketing essentially represents a paradigm shift within marketing away from an acquistitions focus towards a retention focus.Relationship marketing is a philosophy of doing business,a strategic orientation,which focuses on keeping and improving relationships with current customers rather than on acquiring new customers.This philosophy assumes that many consumers and business customer prefer to have an ongoing relationship with one organization than to switch continually among providers in their search for value.Building on this assumption and another that suggests it is usually much cheaper to keep a current customer than to attract a new one,successful marketers are working on effective strategies for retaining customers.

"Relationship marketing is the process of creating,maintaining and enhancing strong value,laden,relationship with customer and other stockholders."-->Philip Kotler."The term relationship marketing is an organization effort to develop a long term cost effective like with individual customers for mutual benefit."-->Kevin&Herley.
Creating
Maintaining
Enhancing
Strong Value.

Finally we can say,Relationship marketing is the process of creating,maintaining and enhancing strong value,laden,relationship with customer and other stockholders.
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